One Night, One-Hundred Bikes

West Chester, PA, December 03, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Next Thursday evening, December 11, remodeling company Pine Street Carpenters will host its 7th annual community outreach initiative dubbed “The 100 Wheels Project.”

Each year, Pine Street purchases and assembles bicycles for underprivileged children in the region. When the initiative first started in 2008, Pine Street donated 50 bicycles to local non-profits (thus, “100 Wheels”). The effort has grown each year, and this year, thanks to the support of friends, clients, and trade partners, Pine Street Carpenters will be purchasing and building 100 bicycles for underprivileged children. Employees, family members, friends, and members of the cycling community will donate their time and energy on December 11 at an evening bike-building party.

Since the project began, Pine Street has provided 437 bikes to deserving children in the community. This year’s event, Pine Street’s largest to date with regard to number of bikes built, will bring that total to 537.

“We’re excited to be building 100 bikes this year,” says Brendon Dolan, owner of Pine Street Carpenters and The Kitchen Studio at Pine Street. “This number is telling in that it shows the sheer need in the community year in and year out. Thanks to the support we receive from so many, however, hopefully we are able to put a small dent in that need.”

This year, Pine Street is partnering with six local non-profits: Family Services of Chester County (West Chester); Friends Association for the Care and Protection of Children (West Chester); The Care Center for Christ (West Chester); La Comunidad Hispana (Kennett Square); Family Services of Montgomery County (Norristown); and Partners for Families (Norristown).

“Each of these organizations provides much needed services to families in the community,” says Dolan. “Thanks to our staff, customers, colleagues, and friends, these bicycles will make it to children in their care just in time for the holidays.”

In addition to bicycles, employees and friends of Pine Street Carpenters also donate helmets and bike locks to accompany the bikes. This year, Safe Kids Chester County Coalition is donating 70 helmets while students at St. Mary Magdalen School in Media are contributing over 20 helmets as part of their “Helping for Helmets” campaign to support the project.

Pine Street Carpenters launched “The 100 Wheels Project” in 2008 to help offset the decline in donations to holiday toy drives because of the economy. The event was a great success – and the need so great – that the remodeling firm decided to make it an annual event.

Pine Street has a website devoted to the project: www.bikebuild.org. The site includes event details, ways the community can support the project, videos from past bike-builds, and a list of sponsors. Registration for the December 11 bike-build is closed as the number of volunteers has already reached capacity.

Local businesses and organizations supporting this year’s event include Bike Line and Boyle’s Floor & Window Designs, both of West Chester, Saint Andrew School in Drexel Hill, and many others.

Says Dolan: “’The 100 Wheels Project’ is a great way for us to do some good, and have some fun in the process.”